Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Response from Sr. Vitter RE: chained CPI for Social Security benefits
Dear Ms. ---,
Thank you for contacting me in opposition to using a chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) for measuring inflation in the United States. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this important issue.
As you know, people receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits get an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) determined by the increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The chained CPI is an alternative calculation developed to account for the changes that people make in the types of goods that they purchase in response to price changes. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the chained CPI "is designed to be a closer approximation to a cost-of-living index than the existing BLS measures," and using the chained CPI for Social Security was recommended by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and the bipartisan Policy Center's Debt Reduction Task Force.
Like you, I firmly believe we must keep the promise of Social Security and give Louisiana seniors the security and peace of mind they deserve. Social Security provides a critical foundation of income for retired and disabled workers, and Congress has a duty to ensure that Social Security is protected, not just for the current generation, but for generations to come. Rest assured that I will continue to focus on protecting and ensuring solvency for Social Security in the U.S. Senate and will keep your concerns in mind.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other issues important to you.
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Receiving this oversimplified explanation of the chained CPI and social security benefits, I began to wonder if Senator Vitter and his family could survive a monthly income chained to the current CPI for at least six months. Its very convenient for authorities to make decisions about income figures when there is little to no personal attachments at stake.
#whatisatstake #votethemout
Monday, July 8, 2013
Black Out
Only qualified individuals and our affiliates
authorize financial institutions the right to deny countries of the world civil
rights.
I put the flier back in the seat pocket in front of me, blacking-out boxes around the phrases and shock lines around the boxes. I hope someone
found it and sees it as clearly as I did.
On a recent flight from San Francisco to New Orleans, my
seat was fliered by an eager credit card company looking to lure my business
with the promised reward of flight miles. The back of the credit card application was a page of
caveats, rules, and notices.
The anger
I feel at the industry designed to make money by trading money is shadowed by
my disgust at industries exploiting people to maximize their profit. Looking hard enough at this credit card flier, the black out
popped out almost instantly. “Only qualified individuals and our affiliates
authorize financial institutions the right to deny countries of the world civil
rights.”
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